A potential client in a technology industry called me with an all-too-familiar story about his privately held company: • Established decades ago as a niche technology company • Successfully executed many technology evolutions and disruptions • Earned price premiums for decades due to outstanding service and quality • Survived the 2008 decline – hardest years [...]

The 2008-2009 economic recession changed customer and business behaviors, not unlike how a hurricane reshapes the built and natural environment. If you are not incorporating recession-induced changes into your business model strategy, your market position will weaken. The Recession Has Changed Consumer Behavior – Forever A recent in-depth study of consumer attitudes and behaviors by [...]

The President’s current political, foreign policy and domestic issues remind me of running a business in challenging times. Never forget about customer experience and how markets change. Our economy totally tanked. Yet the Obama administration and Congress marched forward into health care as if nothing was really different. A more moderate approach to health care [...]

Best wishes for a joyous holiday. Here are the top trends I expect will shape our business models in 2010 and beyond and what leaders must do to address them. Downward pressure on prices in a copycat, increasingly global economy will magnify and become relentless. Before you spend more money pulling costs our of your [...]

If  your business can’t offer its target market(s) differentiated benefits that matter, recognize that your business is stuck in a quicksand called commoditization. Endless cost cutting to survive the recession-magnified price discounting will only push you deeper into the muck, making it even harder to escape competing on price. You only have three smart options: [...]

I took up rock climbing to confront my fear of heights. I’d follow my planned route, stopping to decide on my next steps. Stopping for too long, usually out of fear, was always a mistake.  Fear aroused the oldest part of my brain that screamed, “Any move other than right back down the way you [...]

Image by Calidonia via Flickr “When the tide goes out, you see who is standing naked.” (Warren Buffet) When Joseph Schumpeter described capitalism as creative destruction, he was talking about business model innovation.  New or transformed companies take the place of companies that are lethargic due to size-induced bureaucracy or over-confidence. This transition, Schumpeter argued, [...]